Grouted masonry wall



April 13, 1967 A. ROBERTSON ETAL 3,314,208

GROUTED MASONRY WALL Original Filed Nov. 23, 1954 2 Sheets-Sheet l 1 J LL INVENTORS A114 4. mea er-so 2/9/44 PfldZ-Zlfi April 18, 1967 ROBERTSONETAL 3,314,208

GROUTED MASONRY WALL Original Filed Nov. 23, 1954 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Z IL,ll "WI 1 United States Patent 3,314,208 GROUTED MASONRY WALL Alan L.Robertson, Newington, and Philip Paolella, Hamden, Conan, assignors toThe United Research and Development Company, Incorporated, New Britain,(301111., a corporation of Connecticut Continuation of application Ser.No. 470,699, Nov. 23,

1954. This application Mar. 2, 1964, Ser. No. 351,269 2 Claims. (Cl.52-438) This application covers an improvement over a prior Patent No.2,684,588, dated July 27, 1954, entitled, Plastic Filled Masonry Wall,by Alan L. Robertson; and it is also a continuation of the patentapplication of Alan L. Robertson and Philip Paolella, Ser. No. 470,699,filed November 23, 1954, entitled, Grouted Masonry Wall, and nowabandoned.

This invention relates to building constructions, and more particularlyto a load-bearing grouted masonry wall of great strength made up from aplurality of concrete building blocks of novel design.

One object of the present invention is to provide a masonry wall of theabove nature in which the concrete blocks are provided with bottomhorizontal grooves and end vertical grooves into which the grout willflow after each course of the wall is laid up upon the course beneathit.

A furtherobject is to provide a masonry wall of the above nature whichis mounted upon a horizontal footing, and in which each block has anintegral top cover cap below which are a plurality of hollow air cellsopening into the bottom of the block.

A further object is to provide a grouted masonry wall of the abovenature, in which each block comprises a part of the form for the nextadjacent block when the grout is poured, thus eliminating the necessityof using external forms.

A further object is to provide a building block for a masonry wall ofthe above nature, in which the top and bottom surfaces of said block areground to uniform height, with the top and bottom surfaces absolutelyparallel so that the blocks may be laid dry with all sides and cornersaccurate and true. By means of this construction, if the bottom courseis plumb, all of the superimposed upper courses will also be plumb.

A further object is to provide a masonry wall block of the above nature,having vertical end grooves and top horizontal grooves on its front faceto provide imitation motor or shadow joints between adjacent blocks.

A further object is to provide a masonry wall of the above nature whichwill be simple in construction, very strong, inexpensive to manufacture,easy and rapid to install and manipulate, compact, ornamental inappearance, and very eflicient and durable in use.

With these and other objects in View, there have been illustrated on theaccompanying drawings, several forms in which the invention mayconveniently be embodied in practice.

In the drawings:

FIG. 1 represents a top plan view of one of the concrete building blocksembodying the invention, and showing in dotted lines an outline of theinterior air cells, and the vertical end groove of said block.

FIG. 2 is a vertical cross-sectional view taken along the line 2-2 ofFIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is an end view of the building block showing the location of theend and bottom grooves.

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of a masonry wall partially built up from arow of concrete blocks in staggered formation, and showing a pair ofhorizontal overlapping 3 $14,208 Patented Apr. 18, 1967 steelreinforcing rods located in the aligned bottom grooves of said blocks.

FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view of the same, on a smaller scale,showing the air pockets in said blocks which are sealed by the groutpoured into the vertical end grooves between the blocks when laying upeach course of the wall.

FIG. 6 is a perspective view of a modified form of grouted masonry wallmade up of a plurality of solid concrete building blocks arranged invertical stacks and with horizontal and vertical reinforcing rodslocated in the aligned grooves thereof.

FIG. 7 is a perspective view of a masonry wall partially laid, employingshadow concrete blocks with inclined front faces to produce an imitationclapboard or shingle effect.

FIG. 8 is a cross-sectional fragmentary view of the upper portions of apair of adjacent blocks of the third form of the invention.

Referring now to the drawings, in which like reference numerals denotecorresponding parts throughout the several views, the numeral 10indicates a concrete building block of rectangular shape having a pairof vertical interior air cells 11 and 12 covered by an integral top cap13 and provided with integral vertical end walls 14, 16, an intermediatewall 15, and side walls 16a, 16b.

The numeral 17 indicates a horizontal bottom groove in the block 10, andthe numeral 18 a vertical end groove communicating with the groove 17.

The first or bottom course of blocks 10 will be laid level and plumbupon a footing 19, as by employing a pair of horizontal leveling strips20 and 21 of steel or reinforced concrete, as clearly shown in FIG. 4,or by a trowel and mortar. The leveling strips 20, 21 are adapted to beadjusted to level condition by means ofa plurality of shims 22.

A plurality of overlapping steel reinforcingrods 23 having hooked ends24 are also arranged horizontally within the aligned bottom grooves 17of the abutting blocks 10 in the course being laid.

The numeral 25 indicates the grout or other suitable fluent plasticbinding material which is poured into the vertical end grooves 18, andwhich will pass down into the bottom grooves 17 and up into the interiorair cells or cavaties 11 and 12 for a short distance, sealing the air insaid cells, and serving to unite the blocks into an integral masonrywall construction without requiring the use of the usual exterior forms.

The grout 25 preferably contains a small amount of calcium chloride orany other suitable accelerating material to speed up the solidifyingaction thereof. This will permit the grout of each course to set beforelaying the next course.

In order to provide imitation horizontal and vertical mortar joints atthe front of the wall, each of the concrete building blocks 10 and 11 isprovided with horizontal and vertical grooves 26, 27, respectively,which may be pointed with mortar after the wall has been laid. It isalso essential that the top and bottom surfaces of each block 10 beground into parallelism so that all superimposed courses of blocks willbe plumb.

Second form In the second form of the invention shown in FIG. 6, aplurality of rows of the improved concrete blocks are laid in verticalstacked formation, one above the other, and are reinforced by verticalsteel rods 31 and horizontal steel rods 32 located in the aligned endand bottom grooves respectively of said blocks.

In this form of the invention, leveling strips 33, 34 may also beprovided, and are laid upon a horizontal footing 35, as shown in FIG. 6.

3 Third form In the third form of the invention shown in FIG. 7, aplurality of shadow blocks 40 are arranged in a series of verticallyspaced rows in staggered formation.

Each of the blocks 40 is provided with an inclined front face 41 so asto produce the effect of clapboards or shingles, and each block 40 isalso provided with a groutreceiving end groove 42 and a bottom groove43, as in the first form of the invention. One edge of the front face 41is provided with a vertical groove 43a to give the appearance of a jointwhich may be pointed with mortar if desired.

Leveling strips 44, 45 are also provided, being laid upon a horizontalfooting 46. Grout 47 will then be poured into the vertical andhorizontal grooves 42, 43 and will flow up a short distance into thecells 48, 49 to seal the air therein, as in the first two forms of theinvention.

While there has been disclosed in this specification a grouted masonrywall constructed of hollow concrete blocks, it is to be understood thatany other artificial or natural stone, glass, metal or other buildingmaterial may be employed, and that said blocks may be made solid ifdesired, within the spirit and scope of this invention.

While there have been disclosed in this specification several forms inwhich the invention may be embodied, it is to be understood that theseforms are shown for the purpose of illustration only, and that theinvention is not to be limited to the specific disclosures, but may bemodified and embodied in various other equivalent forms withoutdeparting from its spirit. In short, the invention includes all themodifications and embodiments coming Within the scope of the followingclaims.

The invention claimed is:

1. A masonry wall construction comprising a plurality of horizontalcourses wherein each such course includes a plurality of blocks eachblock having an imperforate horizontal and longitudinally extendingsubstantially rectangular top wall, a pair of side walls dependingrespectively from the longitudinal edges of the top wall for the fulllength thereof and which have bottom surfaces residing in a commonhorizontal plane, a pair of end walls depending transversely from saidtop wall with one end wall flush with one end of the top wall and theside walls at one end of the block and with the other end wall spacedinwardly from the other end of the side walls to define a verticalrecess opening through the top wall at the other end of the block, bothof said end walls having bottom surfaces which are spaced upwardly fromsaid common horizontal plane, each block also including at least oneadditional transverse wall depending from the top wall between said endwalls and having its bottom surface spaced upwardly from said commonhorizontal plane, the blocks in each course being set directly on alower course and being engaged in end abutting relationship with thesaid one end of one block engaging the said other end of the adjacentblock in the course, and each course being completed by grout pouredinto the vertical recesses in the several blocks in the course, to flowover the top walls of the blocks in the course below in the spacebetween the common horizontal plane of the course being poured and thebottom surfaces of all of the transverse walls and to fill the recessesof the course being poured and thus to bind the blocks in a course toeach other and to the course below.

2. A masonry wall construction as set forth in claim 1 wherein one sidewall in each block thereof is provided with a rectilinear exteriormarginal recess extending along its bottom edge and its end edge at saidone end of the block to define grooves in the wall to receive mortar asa trim for the wall construction and to further anchor the blockstherein.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,154,546 9/1915Peters 52-438 1,410,588 3/1922 Myers 52589 1,543,509 6/1925 Nelson52-438 1,953,287 4/ 1934 Bemis 52-428 2,459,028 1/1949 Hester 525412,482,719 9/ 1949 Rigaumont 52-589 2,498,276 2/ 1950 Kany 52-4382,540,622 2/ 1951 Langenberg 52-293 2,558,630 6/1951 Stewart 52-4362,640,348 6/ 1953 Rigaumont 52-436 2,696,102 12/1954 Zagray 52-436FOREIGN PATENTS 941,496 7/ 1948 France.

962,315 1949 France.

465,054 1950 Canada.

634,886 3/ 1956 Great Britain.

FRANK L. ABBOTT, Primary Examiner. I. L. RIDGILL, Assistant Examiner.

1. A MASONRY WALL CONSTRUCTION COMPRISING A PLURALITY OF HORIZONTALCOURSES WHEREIN EACH SUCH COURSE INCLUDES A PLURALITY OF BLOCKS EACHBLOCK HAAVING AN IMPERFORATE HORIZONTAL AND LONGITUDINALLY EXTENDINGSUBSTANTIALLY RECTANGULAR TOP WALL, A PAIR OF SIDE WALLS DEPENDINGRESPECTIVELY FROM THE LONGITUDINAL EDGES OF THE TOP WALL FOR THE FULLLENGTH THEREOF AND WHICH HAVE BOTTOM SURFACES RESIDING IN A COMMONHORIZONTAL PLANE, A PAIR OF END WALLS DEPENDING TRANSVERSELY FROM SAIDTOP WALL AND THE ONE END WALL FLUSH WITH ONE END OF THE TOP AND THE SIDEWALLS AT ONE END OF THE BLOCK AND WITH OTHER END WALL SPACED INWARDLYFROM THE OTHER END OF THE SIDE WALLS TO DEFINE A VERTICAL RECESS OPENINGTHROUGH THE TOP WALL AT THE OTHER END OF THE BLOCK, BOTH OF SAID ENDWALLS HAVING BOTTOM SURFACES WHICH ARE SPACED UPWARDLY FROM SAID COMMONHORIZONTAL PLANE, EACH BLOCK ALSO INCLUDING AT LEAST ONE ADDITIONALTRANSVERSE WALL DEPENDING FROM THE TOP WALL BETWEEN SAID END WALLS ANDHAVING ITS BOTTOM SURFACE SPACED UPWARDLY FROM SAID COMMON HORIZONTALPLANE, THE BLOCKS IN EACH COURSE BEING SET DIRECTLY ON A LOWER COURSEAND BEING ENGAGED IN END ABUTTING RELATIONSHIP WITH THE SAID ONE END OFONE BLOCK ENGAGING THE SAID OTHER END OF THE ADJACENT BLOCK IN THECOURSE, AND EACH COURSE BEING COMPLETED BY GROUT POURED INTO THEVERTICAL RECESSES IN THE SEVERAL BLOCKS IN THE COURSE. TO FLOW OVER THETOP WALLS OF THE BLOCKS IN THE COURSE BELOW IN THE SPACE BETWEEN THECOMMON HORIZONTAL PLANE OF THE COURSE BEING POURED AND THE BOTTOMSURFACES OF ALL OF THE TRANSVERSE WALLS AND TO FILL THE RECESSES OF THECOURSE BEING POURED AND THUS TO BIND THE BLOCKS IN A COURSE TO EACHOTHER AND TO THE COURSE BELOW.